Little boys and girls normally wear diapers until they are ready for the toilet training process, when they learn to use the toilet by themselves. The point at which a child will begin this training process is dependent upon many factors, some of which are psychological, some physiological, and some unique to the individual child or their environment.
The toilet training process has been studied and found to encompass multiple stages, ranging from early stages of training characterized by behaviors such as understanding potty words to late stages of training characterized by behaviors such as using a regular toilet without a potty seat. As part of the toilet training process, the parent or caregiver desirably provides instruction and positive encouragement and/or reinforcement that the child should now be using a toilet, instead of diapers. The use of training pants is desirable at some point in the process because it represents a change from diapers to a product form that mimics underwear in the way it is donned, closer to the way that grownups dress and use the toilet.
The toilet training process is complicated by the fact that the successes that a child achieves at any particular stage may also depend upon many factors. These too can be psychological, physiological, or related to the individual child or their environment. Unfortunately, if the child does not respond to an initial toilet training instruction or introduction, the parent or caregiver can be at a loss for identifying more suitable products, training aids or techniques. This tendency is increased by the difficulty in assessing the amount of physiological readiness and or progress a child is making, specifically how long a child is staying dry and how large their voids are (indicators of progress or readiness) is masked by the high capacity of absorbent products.
One or more proposed methods for improving the effectiveness of a child's toilet training regime are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,929, which is incorporated herein by reference. The '929 patent is directed to a method that utilizes a progress scale to evaluate the child's current level or stage of toilet training. The method also provides feedback in the form of specific toilet training recommendations that are matched to the child's current stage of toilet training. The '929 patent represents great advances in the art.
The present disclosure is directed to further improvements in methods for assisting caregivers, such as parents, in toilet training children. For example, many caregivers do not recognize when a child is ready to be toilet trained and also have difficulties in determining when to transition from one absorbent product (e.g. diapers) to another absorbent product (e.g. absorbent pants) may help facilitate faster and/or easier toilet training. The present disclosure is directed to a method for assisting caregivers in choosing and selecting an absorbent product based upon the wetness characteristics of the child. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to a method for assisting caregivers in switching from a first product to a next generation product during the child's development. The present disclosure is also directed to a method for providing feedback to a caregiver regarding the progress that is being made in toilet training a child.